Science

Suzuki Roshi once said something to the effect of, "You're perfect as you are—and you could use a little work."
Transhumanist, bioethicist, and former Buddhist monk James Hughes would agree. And that's an understatement: there's virtually nothing about us, he thinks, that can't be enhanced to improve our chances at realization:
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Chinese engineers recently proposed a plan for the world's largest hydroelectric dam on the Tsangpo-Brahmaputra, considered Tibet's last great undammed river. Tibet's river systems water much of China itself, as well as south and southeast Asia, and India has raised concerns that Beijing will try and divert water away from south Asia, but this concern is probably far-fetched.
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I just can't get enough of this video.
Created by the American Museum of Natural History and used in the recent Rubin Museum of Art exhibition "Visions of the Cosmos", it is a journey from the Himalayas to the end of the universe, literally. If you haven't seen it, it is definitely worth the six and half minutes it takes to watch it.
Watch it here.
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It's not such a dog-eat-dog after all. It turns out we may be wired to be kind.
As you may have heard, Sharon Salzberg is leading our first Tricycle Online Retreat, a three-week teaching on metta, or loving-kindness, practice. In the teacher-led discussion, one retreatant points us to a University of California, Berkeley, study on sympathy and compassion.
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[UPDATED: Link fixed.]
"The storm petrel is able to survive only by taking refuge in the vast ocean that surrounds it. Rather than allowing themselves to become overwhelmed by the enormity of their environment, these fragile and diminutive birds follow the paths of least resistance. During the worst weather, they place themselves deep down in the troughs of waves, using their delicate feet to push themselves away from the moving walls of wild water next to them, and letting the howling winds shear across the crests of waves high above. This is the bird's own spontaneous dance of resourcefulness and survival, and it is only one example of the countless ways in which sentient beings take refuge."
- Gary Thorp, "Shelter from the Storm." Read the complete article here.
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Q: Doesn’t it come to us naturally that it’s in our self-interest to extend compassion to those beyond our local groups?
A: No, it doesn't. Because to worry about what some disenchanted Muslim teenager in Pakistan is feeling right now does not come naturally in the sense of visceral response. It does, however, make intellectual sense; the world is moving to a point where, if only out of self-interest, we need to think about that person. One virtue of some of the religious traditions is that they have well-worked-out procedures for assisting this intellectual process. In other words, it's one thing to realize logically that my fate is intertwined with the fate of Muslims around the world: If they're unhappy, they'll eventually make me unhappy. But it's another to feel it, to look at someone and get a deep sense of fraternity with them. That's where religious practice plays an important role.
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